Sliver coiler and can therefor



c. HOLDSWORTH 2,018,261

SLIVER COILER AND CAN THEREFOR Filed June 10, 1955 lnv cnTor.

Gifford Ho\dsworTh b fiwd Mz W railway head or a drawing frame.

Patented Oct. 22, 1935 warren STAT SLIVER COILER AND CAN THEREFOR Application June 10, 1933, Serial No. 675,272

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine known as a sliver coiler, the purpose of which is to coil in a cylindrical mass a sliver of fibre produced by the carding operation or a roving discharged from a This general type of device is well known and familiar to the textile art. The sliver is coiled in a well-known and distinctive manner into a can mounted upon and forming a part of the apparatus.

The invention has for its object to cure certain defects which exist in the operation of the coiler particularly with certain classes of fibre such as fibre of relatively long staple and springy character of which mohair and other animal fibre are examples. It is found that the coiler works satisfactorily while the mass of sliver is formed in the bottom of the can but that as the can fills up, the sliver becomes balled up, does not feed properly into the can, forms an unsymmetrical mass and frequently the sliver breaks. It has been discovered that so long as there is a sufficient length of strand of sliver being fed and carried around in the coiling operation that the weight thereof is sufiicient to secure a proper coiling of the mass in the can, but as the length of this free strand decreases, the weight becomes insufiicient and the objections noted occur. This is due to different causes, among which are the catching of the fine projecting fibres on the tube of the coiler plate of the machine, an excess of oil or grease in the sliver preventing it from passing freely through the coiler tube, and the generation of static electricity causing the fibres to project and catch in the coiler plate tube or any other movable part. It is also found that during the last stages of the operation, when the mass of sliver is rubbing against the bottom of the coiler plate, these difiiculties cease to exist.

The present invention has for its object to provide means by which, after a predetermined amount of sliver has been coiled in the can in the usual manner and the weight of the depending strand of sliver has become insufficient to prevent the objections noted, the coiled mass of sliver in the can may be forced upward in the can and its top surface maintained yieldingly against the under surface of the coiler plate. It is found that under these conditions as the coiling action proceeds, the mass of sliver is forced downward in the can without the occurrence of any of the objections heretofore existing. Furthermore, it is found that by this means the capacity of the can is very materially increased because a very much larger amount of sliver is coiled into the can.

The nature and objects of the invention will appear more fully from the accompanying description and drawing and will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

The drawing illustrates a simple and preferred 5 form of sliver coiler with a preferred form of the invention embodied therein. But as the general construction and operation of sliver coilers are well known and familiar to those skilled in the art, it is only necessary to illustrate and describe 10 in a general way those features of the apparatus with which the present invention is concerned.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a View partially in vertical cross section of a sliver coiler with the preferred form of 15 the invention embodied therein.

Fig. 2 is a View chiefly in vertical cross section of a preferred form of sliver can employed.

Fig. 3 is a top plan View on a larger scale of the sliver can shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4: is a detail in horizontal cross section showing one of the vertical slots in the coiler can.

The sliver coiler illustrated comprises a frame having a base I, an upstanding hollow vertical standard 2, a hollow head 3 pivotally mounted 257 on the standard at t and a removable cap plate 5. The main shaft 6 is suitably journalled in vertical position in the standard 2 and is driven from a suitable source of power through a power shaft 7 connected therewith by bevelled gears 8. 301 In the head of the frame there is rotatably mounted on a vertical axis a coiler plate 9 having secured thereto a coiler plate gear l9 meshing with and driven by a pinion H on the main shaft 5. This coiler plate and gear carries an upstanding projection l2 through which extends downward from a point on the vertical axis to a point near the periphery of the coiler plate a bore 43 which constitutes the coiler tube. A pair of feeding rolls I4 are mounted on horizontal axes just above the opening to the coiler tube and are suitably driven as by the bevelled gears l5 from the main shaft '6. The sliver enters through a trumpet It just above the bite of the feed rolls l4 and feeds into the coiler tube l3 and as it passes out from the coiler tube winds in a helix, the center of which is the axis of the coiler plate.

A rotary can base is journalled at IT in the base i of the frame on a vertical axis slightly offset from the axis of the coiler plate and is provided at its periphery with the gear it. This gear is connected by a of reduction gearing indicated as a whole at l9 with the main r 'the machine, is seated on the can base, is shown.

7 than the coiler plate.

as comprising a metal bottom 2|, adapted to fit over a suitable projection on the can base, and an upstanding cylindrical wall 22, usually of fibre board, finished at the top with a metal rim 23. In accordance with the preferred form of the "present invention, this can is provided with a false bottom 26 consisting of a disk freely move able vertically in the can. ,Between the false bottom 24 and the can bottom 2! is' interposed a spring means which in the preferred form comprises a plurality, herein shown as three in number, of superimposed conoidal helical compressible springs 25,25, and 2?. These may be separated in. any suitable manner, as by the disks 28 and 29. With this construction of springs,

- the false bottom may be'pressed down adjacent to the can bottom,.the several springs each compressing into asingle plane, and the false bottom .24 and disks 28 and 29 takin the positions illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

In the preferred construction illustrated, the

'wall of the can is provided with a plurality, herein shown as two diametrically opposed, of'vertical slots 3% closed at their upper ends near the top of the can" and provided at their lower ends with offset portions 3!, while the false bottom is pro- 35 vided with a corresponding plurality of projections 32 riding in these slots. These projections 32 are conveniently formed by upturning the ends of a flat metal plate 33 secured at 3 1 to the false bottom 24 and finger pieces 35 are conveniently formed on the projections. When, as is customary, the wall of the can is formed of fibre board, the edges of the vertical slots 36 are provided with a metal binding 36.

In the operation of the coiler, the false bottom 2% is first depressed and releasably locked in the lower position adjacent the cam bottom. This 7 V "is done by the operator pressing down on the finger pieces 35 until the projections 32 reach the bottom of the slots 35 and then turning the projections into'the offset portions 3! of the slots.

The sliver is then fed into and coiled in the can by the operation of the feeding rolls H and the rotation of the coiler plate 9 with its tube l3 and the rotation of the can in the usual manner.

"When the can is partially filled with sliver and approaches the point when the weight of the strand of sliver depending from the coiler plate to the mass of sliver in' the can is insufficient to insure the proper operation and prevent the objections heretofore noted, the operator releases the false bottom by turning the projections 32 out of the offset portionstl of the slots and at 'once the springs 25, 26, and 2? interposed between the false bottom and can bottomact to force the'false bottom with the mass of sliver thereon upward until the upper portion of the mass projects beyond thetop of the can and its top surface is pressed yieldingly against the bottom surface of the coiler plate. The tension of the springs is so selected when thus acting and partially offset by the weight of the mass of sliver "that the pressure of the mass of sliver against "the bottom of the coiler plate will be sufficient to maintain continuous contact therewith, but

of sliver during its accretion under the coiling 5, action in yielding engagement with the coiler plate obviates all the objections heretofore noted and causes the sliver to be coiled uniformly, evenly and uninterruptedly into the can. Moreover, due

to this pressure, a very much larger mass of sliver .is coiled into the can than heretofore practical.

As the massof sliver is formed, it presses the false bottom down to its lowermostposition and renders the mass of sliver more compact than when the sliver is merely fed into the can in the usual manner. It is found in practice that 60% more sliver may be coiled in the can with this invention than by the usual methods heretofore employed.

When the sliver can has been filled, the operator again locks the projections 32 in the offsets 3! and removes the filled can from the coiler.

There is thus presented by this invention a simple and effective means not only for insuring uniformly satisfactory operation of the machine and coiling of the sliver in the sliver can, but also for substantially increasing the capacity of the machine.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. A sliver coiler having a rotary can base and f false bottom to the can adjacent the can bottom 49' with the spring compressed to permit a mass of sliver to be coiled on the false bottom and for unlocking the false bottom from the can after a mass of sliver has been coiled thereon within the can to permit the spring yieldingly to force the false bottom upward and yieldingly to maintain the sliver mass during its further accretion with its upper surface against the bottom surface of the coiler plate.

2, A sliver coiler having a rotary can base and 5o 1 a rotary coiler plate above the base in combination with a sliver can upon and rotary with the.

base in which the sliver can comprisesa false bottom in the can, a spring within the can beneath the false bottom acting yieldingly to force a the false bottom upward, a pluralityof vertical slots in the can wall closed at their upper ends and offset at their lower ends, and a corresponding plurality of projections from the false bottom extending through the slots and presenting finger so pieces exterior of the can wall, the said projections acting when within the offset lower endsof V the slots to lock the false bottom adjacent the can bottom with the spring compressed to per:

mit a mass of sliver to be coiled thereon. and 55 when turned from said offset ends into the main portions of the slots acting to unlock the false bottom from the can after a mass of sliver has been coiled thereon within thecan to permit the'spring yieldingly to force the false bottom 7' upward'and yieldingly to maintain the sliver mass during its further accretion with its upper surface against the bottom surface of the coiler plate.

CLIFFORD Homswom'n. V 

